• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권7호
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• pp.2690-2701
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• 2022

In this paper, we select important fission products for the estimation of the source term during a severe accident of a PWR. The selection is based on the numerical results obtained from depletion calculations for the typical PWR fuel via the in-house code named DEGETION (Depletion, Generation, and Transmutation of Isotopes on Nuclear Application), release fractions of the fission products derived from NUREG-1465, and effective dose conversion coefficients from ICRP 119. Then, for the selected fission products, we obtain the adjoint solutions of the Bateman equations for radioactive decay in order to determine the importance of precursors producing the aforementioned fission products via radioactive decay, which would provide insights into the assumption used in MACCS 2 for a level 3 PSA analysis in which up to six precursors are considered in the calculations of radioactive decays for the fission product after release from the reactor.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권8호
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• pp.1575-1588
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• 2017

In order to develop a domestic research roadmap for severe accidents, a special committee was established by the Korean Nuclear Society. One of the subcommittees discussed the characteristics and the relevant technical issues in the stages of fission product release and physical forms of radionuclide release and transport. The group members developed a tree to identify fission product release phenomena by tracing failures of individual defense-in-depth barriers and added possible countermeasures against failure. For each elemental issue, they searched for technical problems by examining the phenomena, accident management actions, and regulatory aspects relevant to the mitigation features for containment, including mitigation strategies against containment bypass accidents. Regulatory concerns, including the source term and the acceptance criteria for radionuclide release, were also considered. They identified further research needs regarding important technical issues based on the degree of the current knowledge level in Korea and in foreign countries, looking at the significance and urgency of issues and the expected research period required to reach an advanced level of knowledge. As a result, the group identified the 12 most important and urgent issues, most of which were expected to require mid-term and long-term research periods.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제38권6호
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• pp.535-550
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• 2006

The objectives of this paper are twofold to summarize the new findings and confirmed results from the Phebus FPT-1 experimental data and to report useful information to MELCOR users regarding the better use of MELCOR. For the core damage behavior, the early stage of a melt progression was predicted well; however, the late phase models, concerned with fuel dissolution, oxide cladding failure, fuel slumping, rubble debris heat up, effects of burn-up fuel, and so on, still showed limitations in MELCOR. For the fission product behavior, the comparison showed unexpected phenomena, various limitations, unresolved issues, and even absence of models. The issues summarized in this study have revealed the main areas where our endeavors need to be intensified in order to improve our understanding of severe accident phenomena. From the analysis of the Phebus FPT-1 test results, not only new core damage features, such as foaming or core expansion, but also possible new fission product release patterns due to effects from a high burn-up fuel have raised alternative challenging phenomena that should be solved in the next severe accident research phase.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권3호
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• pp.812-824
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• 2021

In order to reduce risks from the Steam Generator Tube Rupture (SGTR) accident and to meet safety targets, various measures have been analyzed to minimize the amount of fission product (FP) release. In this paper, we propose an introduction of a Containment Filtered Venting System (CFVS) connected to the steam generator secondary side, which can reduce the amount of FP release while minimizing adverse effects identified in the previous studies. In order to compare the effect of new equipment with the existing strategy, accident simulations using MELCOR were performed. As a result of simulations, it is confirmed that CFVS operation lowers FP release into the environment, and the release fractions are lower (minimum 0.6% of the initial inventory for Cs) than that of the strategy which intends to depressurize the primary system directly (minimum 15.2% for Cs). The sensitivity analyses identify that refill of the CFVS vessel is a dominant contributor reducing the amount of FP released. As the new strategy has the possibility of hydrogen combustion and detonation in CFVS, the installation of an igniter inside the CFVS vessel may be considered in reducing such hydrogen risk.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제41권4호
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• pp.350-353
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• 2016

Background: Various characteristics such as size distribution, chemical component and radio-activity have been analyzed for radioactive aerosols released from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Measured results for radioactive aerosols suggest that the potential transport medium for radioactive cesium was non-sea-salt sulfate. This result indicates that cesium isotopes would preferentially attach with sulfate compounds. In the present work the attachment behavior of fission products to aqueous solution aerosols of sodium salts has been studied using a generation system of solution aerosols and spontaneous fission source of $^{248}Cm$. Materials and Methods: Attachment ratios of fission products to the solution aerosols were compared among the aerosols generated by different solutions of sodium salt. Results and Discussion: A significant difference according as a solute of solution aerosols was found in the attachment behavior. Conclusion: The present results suggest the existence of chemical effects in the attachment behavior of fission products to solution aerosols.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1997년도 추계학술발표회논문집(1)
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• pp.70-75
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• 1997

A CASMO/ORIGEN coupling utility program was developed to predict the composition of all the fission products in spent PWR fuels. The coupling program reads the CASMO output file, modifies the ORIGEN cross section library and reconstructs the ORIGEN input file at each depletion step. In ORIGEN, the burnup equation is solved for actinides and fission products based on the fission reaction rates and depletion flux of CASMO. A sample calculation has been performed using a 14$\times$14 PWR fuel assembly and the results are given in this paper.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권8호
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• pp.2792-2800
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• 2022

In the core of the WWR-K reactor, a long-term irradiation of tristructural isotopic (TRISO)-coated fuel particles (CFPs) with a UO₂ kernel was carried out under high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR)-like operating conditions. The temperature of this TRISO fuel during irradiation varied in the range of 950-1100 ℃. A fission per initial metal atom (FIMA) of uranium burnup of 9.9% was reached. The release of gaseous fission products was measured in-pile. The release-to-birth ratio (R/B) for the fission product isotopes was calculated. Aspects of fuel safety while achieving deep fuel burnup are important and relevant, including maintaining the integrity of the fuel coatings. The main mechanisms of fuel failure are kernel migration, silicon carbide corrosion by palladium, and gas pressure increase inside the CFP. The formation of gaseous fission products and carbon monoxide leads to an increase in the internal pressure in the CFP, which is a dominant failure mechanism of the coatings under this level of burnup. Irradiated fuel compacts were subjected to electric dissociation to isolate the CFPs from the fuel compacts. In addition, nondestructive methods, such as X-ray radiography and gamma spectrometry, were used. The predicted R/B ratio was evaluated using the fission gas release model developed in the high-temperature test reactor (HTTR) project. In the model, both the through-coatings of failed CFPs and as-fabricated uranium contamination were assumed to be sources of the fission gas. The obtained R/B ratio for gaseous fission products allows the finalization and validation of the model for the release of fission products from the CFPs and fuel compacts. The success of the integrity of TRISO fuel irradiated at approximately 9.9% FIMA was demonstrated. A low fuel failure fraction and R/B ratios indicated good performance and reliability of the studied TRISO fuel.

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 2003년도 춘계학술발표대회 요약집
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• pp.187.2-187.2
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• 2003

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 1999년도 춘계학술발표회요약집
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• pp.32-32
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• 1999

• 한국원자력학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국원자력학회 2003년도 추계학술발표대회 요약집
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• pp.182-182
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• 2003